One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Essay | Essay

The Outsider

Summary: Compares the novels "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," by Ken Kesey, to "My Left Foot," by Christy Brown. Examines the common theme of isolation and how it is depicted in each novel. Compares the characters R.P. McMurphy and Christy Brown.

Human nature being what it is, people often harbour feelings of discomfort around those who are `different' - whether it is because of disability, or because of holding a different personal view of the world. In discounting the `outsider', those on the `inside' fail to recognize that these people are living as normal a life as possible, but within abnormal circumstances. R.P. McMurphy, of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Christy Brown, of My Left Foot, are two such `outsiders' - themselves seemingly polar opposites in terms of their physical appearance and personal character traits; yet they both show the readers that `outsiders' are often just people who have the courage to stand up against what most of us would consider insurmountable odds. It is because of this fact that outsiders are made, not born. It is the way in which people regard and...